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Saturday, January 21, 2012

Surname Saturday ~ Buffum of Salem, Massachusetts

BUFFUM

Robert Buffum was born about 1590 at Buffum,
Yorkshire and was married twice in England before coming to Salem,
Massachusetts. In October 1649 he was granted 40 acres in
what is now known as “Buffum’s Corner” (near Boston and Essex Streets in Salem). The Buffums were early Quakers. His family was fined regularly for not
attending the preferred meetings of worship (they skipped Puritan services), and so they show up in court records.

Robert Buffum’s will was witnessed by his Quaker
friends and neighbors who would not “swear on the book” and so the document was
refused by the court. His wife Tamosin
was administrix of his estate. The
inventory was made on 15 November 1669 and this named his children.

“On
Nov 25 1668, Mary Neale testified that when her father, Robert Buffum was sick,
she tended to him until he died, and heard her mother, Tamosin asked her father
several times to make a will: of which he seemed to take little notice till a
little before his death when he said that he would have his son Joshua have a
double portion, and for the rest of the children, he would make no difference
betwixt them, for, he said, that they are yours as well as mine. About the same
time other testimony was taken, Gertrude Pope, widow, testified that being at
the house of Robert Buffum, while he lay at his death bed, he would have me and
Elizabeth Kitchen take notice of what he has said, as to his estate, he would
leave to his wife, for she had helped him to get it and the children were hers.
Testimony of Elizabeth Kitchen to the same effect. Petition of john Wilson,
William Beanes and Jeremiah Neale, children and heirs of Robert Buffum humbly showth
that 'whereas our father Robert Buffum died intestate and an inventory of his
estate was brought in by relict Tomosin and she appointed administratrix, etc,
who since that time has disposed of the same according to her fancy or
affection led her, or else keepeth the same still in her hands; we your
petitioners, being children of the deceased, humbly conceive that as children,
we ought to according to the law of God and this jurisdiction each of us to
have a share or portion which is our right, and therefore humbly do supplicate
this honored Court as fathers of this country to our causes into your pious and
Christian consideration and be fathers to us in helping us to that we who are
the children may not be deprived of which we humbly conceive according to law
of God and this jurisdiction is ours. We subscribe yours in all service to
command.” From One Hundred and Sixty Allied Families
by John O. Austin, Salem Press, 1893.

Robert Buffum was buried in the Old Burying Ground
in Peabody, but his remains were removed to Harmony Grove Cemetery near the
western entrance. In 1991 the Buffum Family Association erected
a memorial stone which you can see at this link to his sketch at FindAGrave.com
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7885479

The Buffum genealogy, showing my lineage
from Robert Buffum:

Generation
1: Robert Buffum, born about 1590, son
of James Bougham and Margery Raylton, died before 2 December 1669 in Salem,
Massachusetts; married first to Margaret Blessing on 23 August 1613 at St.
Nicholas Church, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England (no surviving children);
married second to Tamoson Ward on 11 August 1634 at the Church of St.
Lawrence, South Walasham, Norfolk,
England. She was the daughter of George
Ward and Dionis Burrow, born about 1606 and died 23 March 1688 in Salem,
Massachusetts. She married first to John
Thompson on 29 November 1632 at the St. Nicolas Church, Great Yarmouth, and had
one child, Margaret, born about 1632.

Generation
2: Deborah Buffum, born 1639, died about 1668; married on 12
August 1658 in Marblehead, Massachusetts to Robert Wilson, born about 1630 and
died on 18 September 1675 in Deerfield, Massachusetts at the Bloody Brook
Massacre. Two children. You can read about the tragic story of
Deborah Buffum, persecuted for showing up naked to the Salem village Puritan
meeting and for being a professed Quaker, at this link:

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About Me

Author of the Nutfield Genealogy blog. My family research includes Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, with a smattering of Nova Scotia. Please contact me if you see your ancestors on this blog. I would love to share information. I am the recording secretary of the New Hampshire Mayflower Society, President of the Londonderry Historical Society, member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the Mass. Society of Genealogists, The National Genealogical Society, and the New Hampshire Society of Genealogists.